Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Basic striping tutorial

Three cheers for tutorials! This one isn't featured in the previews but I'm still really excited about this. I will introduce you to a cheap, fast and idiot-proof method of creating delicious strips on your nails.

All you need is nail polish (well obviously), masking tape and scissors. Start off with clean nails and apply a layer of basecoat. Like I said before, this is a good habit to have to prevent ugly staining. I used China Glaze Strong Adhesion Basecoat.

Apply basecoat

Apply a base colour of your choice. This will be one of the colours of your strips. I used OPI Alpine Snow Matte. It was a nightmare to apply. The first coat was extremely streaky and was almost chalky in texture. I had to use whopping 4 coats to obtain an even coverage. So I honestly wouldn't recommend this although the effect looks quite amazing.

4 coats of OPI Alpine Snow Matte

After your base colour has dried, get your masking tape ready!

Masking tape, masking tape, I love you, yes I do!

Cut stripes of the same thickness from the masking tape. Whatever tickles your fancy, really. Mine are around 5mm.

Guess who's lazy and didn't paint her thumb?

Stick them onto your nails! I've done mine horizontally to create a sense of energy. Ms Ruck is going to be proud. Make sure that they are all stuck on nice and firm because nail polish can seep beneath to ruin the stripes. So press them down!

Stick them down in place

Choose the other colour of the strips and paint it over the nails. I used Essie Mesmerize. A gorgeous dark blue that is opaque with 2 layers. Places covered by the masking tapes will be left white. Left the nail polish dry for approximately 3-5 minutes and peel off the masking tape for a pristine finish. I then applied Essie Silver Bullions over the blue stripes for that extra bit of dazzle.

So go have fun and experiment with stripes! Red and white stripes would be terrific for Chrstimas. You could also try creating rainbow stripes. Now that's a thought. I'd love to see your results!